In an interview here at Mobile World Congress, Chris Weber, Microsoft’s head of mobile device sales, said that the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant will make its big stand later this year when it releases a new premium flagship smartphone powered by its upcoming Windows 10 operating system. Read More »

Microsoft is investing in a hot startup that’s trying to weaken Google’s hold over Android.

People familiar with the matter say Microsoft is putting money into Cyanogen, which is building a version of the Android mobile-operating system outside of Google’s auspices.

Microsoft would be a minority investor in a roughly $70 million round of equity financing that values Cyanogen in the high hundreds of millions, one of the people said. The person said the financing round could grow with other strategic investors that have expressed interest in Cyanogen because they’re also eager to diminish Google’s control over Android. The identity of the other potential investors couldn’t be learned. Read More »

In January so far, six startups have been acquired, including by the likes of Microsoft Corp. and Dropbox Inc. Last week, Amazon.com Inc. confirmed it had agreed to acquire Israeli chip designer Annapurna Labs Ltd. Read More »

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s first year on the job was like the last few minutes of the NFC Championship game for his beloved Seattle Seahawks. Almost nothing could go wrong — until Monday. Read More »

Acquisitions and initial public offerings in the global videogame industry rose to a record $24 billion last year, fueled by the hunt for blockbuster titles that can help game companies stand out in a market where growth is slowing, according to Digi-Capital, an advisory firm.

Digi-Capital said in a new report that the value of deals rose threefold from 2013 and fourfold from 2012. Acquisitions totaled $15 billion, while, IPOs accounted for $9 billion. Growth was driven by deals like Microsoft’s $2.5 billion acquisition of Mojang, developer of “Minecraft,” and Facebook’s $2 billion deal for Oculus VR, a maker of virtual reality glasses for games.

Deal-making likely surged because of expectations of slower growth in the industry, according to Tim Merel, managing director of Digi-Capital. After previously forecasting that revenue from game industry software would rise to $100 billion in 2017, from $72 billion in 2014, the firm now says that won’t happen until 2018. The total does not include sales of consoles and other game hardware. Read More »

Microsoft is holding a press gathering Wednesday to continue a slow reveal of Windows 10, the next version of its flagship operating system. (If you keep track of numbers, Microsoft is skipping version 9.) We jotted down some burning questions already and will share some thoughts here before we start live-blogging the announcement, which gets under way around noon ET.

11:22 am (EST)

Joanna Stern

Good morning from Microsoft Building 92! We're in line already for the keynote, but I'm thinking this time would be better spent trying to sneak into the Surface lab.

Microsoft confirmed that its Outlook email service was targeted by hackers in China, the latest setback for the software giant in the country, where it is already being investigated for alleged anti-competitive practices.

“We are aware of a small number of customers impacted by malicious routing to a server impersonating Outlook.com,” a Microsoft spokesman in a statement Tuesday. “If a customer sees a certificate warning, they should contact their service provider for assistance.”

When President Obama endorsed a student privacy pledge last week, Google was conspicuously absent from a list of 75 companies, including Apple and Microsoft, that had already signed up.

Google said it didn’t sign the pledge, which prescribes data-handling policies, because the company’s contracts and policies demonstrate a commitment to student privacy. It has been tripped up after signing a broad industry pledge before. Read More »